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Frederick Douglass Arguable Analysis

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Finally, Douglass ends with addressing concessions and providing well reasoned rebuttals that progressively support his central claim that the conscience of the country should be roused to protect the rights of slaves as men. Facing inquiries like the abolitionists should “argue more and denounce less,” Douglass analyzes why his claim is not arguable layer upon layer. First, salves are men who are entitled to liberty and should not be seen or treated as brutes. Furthermore, slaves do the same jobs, live in the same way and believe the same religion as all other American citizens do. Finally, slavery is inhuman and therefore should not be divine. Each statement is so simple and understandable and some of the statements are even common sense …show more content…

After addressing why arguing is useless, Douglass proceeds to the part why denouncement is necessary, since rousing the conscience of a whole nation needs “not light but fire; …not the gentle shower, but thunder.” The metaphor of “light” and “gentle shower” refers back to the argument that slaves need freedom as men do, but “fire” and “thunder” refer to the denouncement necessary to rouse the conscience of a country. Understanding the reason is one story, but conceding mistakes and taking actions is a completely different one. Since Douglass’ argument is understandable even to a five-year-old child, the only reason that the suppression still exists is because of the lack of conscience. In this case, only caustic denouncement could awake this country and truly save the slaves from predicaments. After generalizations, Douglass immediately provides another example of denouncement that America’s “everyday practices” outweigh all what the other despots have ever done in the history. This final example accompanied with the reasoning above strongly proves his point

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